A Question of Loyalty
by Moonshine 369
Summary: Chapter 2- It's more difficult than she expected for Kallen to accept the fact that Lelouch Lamperouge is Zero. It's as if she's dealing with two different people. Can she even concede that they might be one in the same? Twoshot.
1. Loyalty

**A/N: This is just major drabble, it's really poorly written so don't judge me. When I typed it up, I had no intentions of posting it, but I decided to anyway. So you can point out grammer flaws but I'd like it if you kept away from the sentence structure and stuff since I already know it's poor. Also, let me know if either of the characters is too OOC. I hope you like it anyway. (x**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass.**

**By the way, Savvy, AKA **_LawlietxRinoa_**, this one's for you, because we (more or less) discovered/got into this anime together. Merci!**

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_She had started to imagine Zero's obscuring mask as a face. Recently, whenever she looked at it she got a different image of the face behind it. She knew he wasn't Japanese, but what was he? The mystery of his identity caused a great number of Black Knights to distrust the man, but it only intrigued her. She found it very… mysterious. And alluring._

_She hadn't even noticed that the Black Knights had left the large room. She stood in front of him in a confused daze; he stood before her, his shoulders raised proudly, his head tipped in a questioning manner. She couldn't even tell what his expression was. He could've been crying through their whole meeting and none of the Knights would ever know._

_She blinked. And then Zero was standing by the door. There were a few beeping sounds as he entered a code into a panel by the door, and then the door slid close in accordance to his command. He swiftly turned back to her._

"_Kallen Kozuki."_

"…_Zero," she returned, trying not to sound too jumpy._

"_How loyal are you, Kozuki?" the masked terrorist continued._

_Was that a trick question? "I am loyal to my country, Zero, and to anyone who will fight for it." Hopefully that would satisfy him._

"_Can I trust you?" he went on._

_Kallen answered straight away. "Of course you can."_

"_I find you trustworthy enough. You may turn out to be an invaluable ally. Kozuki, I will entrust you with my identity." He raised his hand to his mask._

_Kallen's eyes widened in anticipation. Was this it? Was she really about to see the man behind the mask?_

_Zero's hand hesitated to a halt. "What is the meaning of that expression? Do you object?"_

"_No—I… no. I do not," she stammered._

_Zero nodded curtly, and again raised his hand to his mask._

"Arthur! _Ar_thur!"

_What?_

"_Arthur!_ Ah—don't go up there."

_What was Zero talking about? Why did his voice suddenly sound so—familiar?_

"No, you're going to wake her—"

'Zero''s plea to the unknown 'Arthur' was cut short as Kallen felt something wet and rough scrape against her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open as the frisky cat turned and rubbed its cheek against hers, groaning sharply as she was forced awake.

Damnit. She was about to see Zero's face, too.

No; that was wrong. She was about to see what she thought Zero's face might be, in her dream. In reality, she didn't think it very likely at all that she'd see his face before she died.

Kallen rubbed her eyes, clearing her vision only slightly. Arthur was quickly swept up by a long arm. Kallen's eyes followed the limb to come face to face with Lelouch.

"Sorry," he said, giving a laugh that sounded very forced and unnatural. "But it seems that Arthur wanted someone more interesting than me to play with."

Kallen didn't respond, blinking the sleep out of her eyes and giving the room a brief survey. "Where is everyone?"

"They've all left. They decided you needed your beauty sleep," Lelouch replied, a satisfied smirk curling onto his lips.

Kallen rolled her eyes, again ignoring him. She straightened out in her chair, stretching her arms up and looking down at the table. Her textbook page was wrinkled up, which could only be expected, as she used the uncomfortable book as a pillow. She hadn't realized how tired she was.

"Anyway, since you're awake now, you wouldn't mind if I put the news on, would you?" Lelouch's eyes drifted to the large television on the opposite wall.

"Knock yourself out," Kallen said. _Literally._

As the sound of two dull, anchor voices filled the room, Kallen propped her head up with her hand lazily.

"…And in other news, the number of anonymous tips coming in concerning the masked terrorist, Zero, is escalating swiftly. Dozens of callers claim to know Zero, while even more claim to _be_ him. If you have any tips that could help in the investigation, and putting this criminal to an end, please call the number below. Zero has recently—"

A sigh coming from Lelouch's direction interrupted the anchor. He clicked the TV off.

"Wait—why'd you turn that off?" Kallen objected instinctively.

Lelouch turned to her, a questioning look on his face. "I'm sorry—were you watching? I just don't particularly want to hear any more about Zero. I was hoping something besides talk of him and the Black Knights would be on."

"Oh."

"Did you want to watch it, though? I don't mind turning it back on."

"No—no, that's alright. I don't really like… hearing about him either." It was more or less true. She didn't like the way the news talked about him.

"It's a moot point anyway." Lelouch crossed the room, stopping by the table Kallen was sitting at to stroke Arthur.

Kallen raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

Lelouch looked up at her like the answer to her question was painfully obvious. "Zero's reign can't last much longer."

Kallen studied him briefly; there didn't seem to be any trace of a lie in his eyes. In fact, his eyes said: "If society doesn't get rid of Zero, _I_ will, _personally._"

She looked down at her textbook, absently flipping a few pages. "You really think so?"

The young Britannian nodded solemnly.

Kallen took another moment to study him. "Is that what you want?"

It seemed to catch him off guard. "I don't know." She looked at him expectantly, so he continued. "I agree with Zero only to the point that the elevens deserve independence, but his methods are completely shameless. He holds no dignity or self respect whatsoever. He'd kill his own family if they got in his way."

"…But you _do _agree with him," Kallen finished for him.

Lelouch hesitated. "I suppose so."

"Then why don't you _act_ on it?"

Lelouch's eyes narrowed slightly, looking offended. "Excuse me?"

"It's people like you who screw the Jap—I mean _Elevens_ over. If you wanted, you could make a difference, but you just sit and let things happen, too lazy and pompous to get your hands dirty. If you live like that… well, you're no better than those who kill Elevens!" Kallen stood up and slammed her textbook closed, tucking it under her arm.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know. I suddenly can't stand the sight of you, for some reason."

"Hm."

With an annoyed sigh, Kallen turned and started for the door.

"Kallen?"

She turned swiftly to face him, silent.

"You accuse me of not acting out—what of you, then? What do you do to help the Elevens?"

Kallen stammered, her heart thumping rapidly. Just then, she'd been speaking as the Japanese Kallen, not the Britannian one. She'd reveal herself if she wasn't more careful.

"I don't need this from you," she said vaguely, and then turned, exiting quickly.

She wasn't sure of it, but it looked like, as she left, Lelouch smiled at her. This time, his eyes seemed to read, "I'm proud of you, Kallen."

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**Thanks for reading.****The next part'll be set after  
Kallen discovered that Lelouch  
is Zero, just for future reference. ;)**


	2. One in the Same

**This chapter is set in r2. There are no major spoilers, and the only thing you need to know if you haven't watched r2 yet is that Kallen eventually gains the knowledge of Zero's identity.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass. If I DID own Code Geass, unlike what most people say, I wouldn't change a thing. Pahaha.**

**I actually put a little bit more work into this chapter-- I wrote it in Algebra just this morning. I didn't learn anything, but I got a lot accomplished!-- but I'd still love it if you could point out if either are out of character-- as an author writing for characters who are not my own, my priority is to keep them as like themselves as I can. Thanks for reading. Enjoy!**

Please see the **IMPORTANT** Authors Note Below when you're done reading.

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Lelouch removed his mask, setting it gingerly on the desk like it was a slab of pure gold, and then undid his cloak, flinging it to the side. His eyes looked strangely passive, but he soon removed the black fabric that obscured guarded his lower face and mouth, revealing a content smile. Smirk was more like it. It was the same smirk he bore nearly every day. It said, "Yes, I _am_ aware of the fact that I'm better than you in several different ways."

He made no effort to acknowledge Kallen as he unfastened the top two buttons on his collared shirt.

Kallen hadn't quite gotten used to this yet. It certainly was strange to watch him remove his mask; it was as if just by taking off this black shield, he was becoming another person. There goes Zero. Now he's normal, innocent schoolboy, Lelouch Lamperouge.

She'd already gone through all of the possibilities: Maybe it was a clever ruse. Maybe Zero—the _real_ Zero, that is—was using Lelouch to cover his true identity. Or maybe Lelouch was the "new" Zero. Maybe the first one, the _true_ one, really had died all those months ago.

But every time he did that—every time he switched personas, it came back and bit her hard.

The first night she spent after discovering that Lelouch was Zero, Kallen hadn't gotten any sleep, painfully racking her brains for all of the times that she had insulted him. She'd called him many things: pompous, hateful, lazy, rude, a snob, a slacker; she'd told him countless times that his life was heading nowhere, that all of the gambling he did and the classes he missed would hurt him in the future if he didn't change. It was needless to say that the two hadn't shared a particularly strong relationship.

And all those times, all those things she'd said, was he, Lelouch Lamperouge, _Zero_, was he keeping track of them? Remembering them for the next time he assigned posts, so he could make sure Kallen ranked lower this time? She'd shown him her true colors, and there was no way she could erase _that_ from his mind.

But even with all of these anxieties, he never acted on it. Not even now that he knew she knew his true identity. It was as if he believed it as well: Zero and Lelouch were two different people. And after all, she hadn't told _Zero_ all those things, had she?

Lelouch ran a hand through his dark hair, sighing gingerly, the smile evaporating slowly from his face. He pulled out a chair at one of the monitors in the dark control room that Kallen had been napping in just moments before, and sat, seeming completely drained.

"I could be anyone," she informed him.

"But you're not."

Kallen scowled away from him, agitated all over again. She didn't know why she was so concerned about his secret, but she was. They'd shared many exchanges just like the one just then, as it wasn't rare that he did that: walked into the room she was in, closed the door behind him, and ignored her completely as he pulled of his mask.

Each time, she reminded him that there could've been anyone in the room besides her or C.C., and each time he replied, almost smugly, that yes, there could've been anyone besides her, but there wasn't.

This time, she felt like being thorough.

"You know, one of these days, you're going to do that, and it's going to be Ougi or Lakshata or someone else. And then you're secret'll be out."

"Yes," Lelouch said, his fingers moving rapidly as he entered something into the keyboard. "I suppose so." He sounded bored and uninterested. Kallen doubted he was actually listening.

"What are you going to do when that happens?" she demanded.

"Simple," Lelouch said, turning to her with a smile that looked so innocent that it sent a shiver down her spine. "I'll kill them."

"Ha, ha," Kallen mocked humorlessly at his sick joke. She didn't find it very amusing.

"But I'm _serious_, Lelouch. If you keep going around being so careless, it won't be long before the whole world knows you're Zero! And what then?" She hadn't even realized she'd stood up, and had lunged towards him.

"It'll be even faster that the world finds out my secret if you keep going around shouting it out like that," Lelouch replied, the smile gone, his eyes narrowing.

"Hmph," Kallen grunted, flopping down into the chair she'd been snoozing in. Lelouch turned back to the monitor, his fingers again picking up the pace, another _tapping_ sound filling Kallen's ears with each keystroke.

She watched him for a moment. He _still_ got under her skin. Without even _trying_ to.

"You're being obnoxious," she told him. "And one of these days, your sick personality is going to come back to bite you."

"I don't think that _I'm_ the one being obnoxious," Lelouch replied calmly.

"Yeah? Well you can just—"

"Kallen," Lelouch interrupted Kallen's, no doubt vulgar retort calmly, standing up and lifting the dark mask from the desk and studying it as if he hadn't seen before in his life. "I'm honestly just wondering—would you speak to Zero in that manner?"

Kallen crossed her arms and huffed once more. "That's completely unfair. You know I was talking to Lelouch just then."

"Lelouch?" the Britannian repeated. "And not _Zero_?" with the last word, he raised the mask to his face just so that it covered it up.

_Zero…_ Kallen repeated in her mind. She wondered what Lelouch was trying to trick her into saying.

"_Lelouch_," she finally said, firmly.

"I see," Lelouch said quietly, his eyes still raking over the glistening mask. He took a deep breath and continued on.

"Well, in that case, I'm also wondering…" He finally tore his eyes away from the mask, staring up at her, his eyes piercing into hers. "How long it will take you to come to terms with the fact that Zero and Lelouch are the same person."

He cocked his head questioningly at her.

It took her a few moments for her brain to register that he was expecting a response.

"I—I…" she stammered unintelligibly.

"That's what I thought," Lelouch sighed.

His motions were swift; she could've blinked, and he'd be done, but instead she watched as he flung the heavily collared cloak over his shoulders and fastened it, raised the black fabric over his jaw, and then adjusted his mask onto his face.

That mask. The one thing that shielded his identity from the world.

Suddenly, Zero stood before her.

"In that case, Kozuki," he said, sounding proud, yet not arrogant as Zero always did to her, "I should allow you some time for you to get your thoughts I order."

With three long strides, Zero exited the room.

Or had that been Lelouch?

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**A/N: I was hoping for some feedback about this story. I'm considering changing it into a series of oneshots concerning Code Geass, not all of them nessecarily related, not all of them involving Lelouch and Kallen. In that case I'd change the title and summary, and probably update this story once or twice a week. How does that appeal to you? Please give me your replies and/or ideas, whether in a PM or a review. I won't put this story in the "Complete" category until you guys give me your response. Thanks again for reading.**


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